Women of Sur: We will not bow down 

2018-01-02 11:09:41


	 

	Duygu Ciniviz

	 

	DİYARBAKIR - “We will not leave our homes, we will not leave Sur,” said the women resisting the ongoing demolition in Alipaşa and Lalebey neighborhoods of Diyarbakır’s Sur district and they said they would not bow down to pressures.

	 

	Families, who don’t want to leave their homes in Alipaşa Neighborhood of Diyarbakır’s Sur district, where the demolition is going on, have been threatened by police and have been forced to leave their homes.

	 

	‘What kind of justice is that?’

	 

	Fatma Beytekin reacted to what is going on and she said she didn’t want to leave her home she had been born and grown up. “I don’t want to leave my home but the state wants to force us to leave our homes in winter with threats,” Fatma said, “They say our home is also expropriated. But how can they expropriate it? I have the deed of the house. They offer 10,000 TL for my house. It is said that hotels will be built here. They will build them by spending billions but who can estimate a price for my house being a witness to my 50-year-old pass? What kind of justice is that?”

	 

	‘I will not leave Sur’

	 

	Fatma said her house had been her mother’s house; “This house was belonging to my mother, after we lost her, we, as five siblings, have a share in this house. I will not leave Sur. I rent a new house in Melik Ahmet Neighborhood, I will live there. Until now I manage to stand on my own legs and raise my children. We never bow down and we will not bow down.”

	 

	‘They threatened and forced me to leave my home’

	 

	Zerife Garbun still lives in Sur but she had to leave her home due to ongoing pressures. She said, “I lived in this neighborhood of Sur. They threatened and forced us to leave our homes. We are a family of 10, they pulled down our house. Poor people lived here but the state didn’t give us peace. They forcibly pulled down our houses. My husband didn’t want to leave Sur but we were forced to leave it. They found us where we moved to and they forced us to leave there. We rent a house in Sur and we are living there now but we have difficulty in paying the rent.”

	 

	Safiye Kızıla said they wouldn’t leave their homes despite pressure and she added, “They want to force us to leave here. But we don’t want to leave our neighborhood and Sur. All pulled down houses were built with a great effort. They are pulling down our effort. They want to pull down our effort.”